Thoughts on winter....

Enough!

We have been cold and snowy for too long.  We've had to purchase a snow blower because we can't keep up with the snow using a shovel.  One of our wonderful neighbors even used his tractor to clear our drive once.  We've been to Kelly Seed for birdseed numerous times this year, purchasing 50 pound bags of mix, sunflower seeds, peanuts and suet each time.  Snow cover prohibits birds from finding seeds and our bird count at the feeders is really up this year.  A cardinal flew into our picture window last week and knocked himself silly.  I went out in my robe and slippers scooped him up in a dish towel and we placed him in a tub on the kitchen counter for an hour.  He revived and we let him loose.  Even the deer have had trouble finding food in deep snow and have been visiting our platform feeder in the middle of the day.  And the cold....so many days with the temperature hovering around zero.

The sun is starting to shine into my craft room window - as we get closer to spring, the sun will move to the left a little bit every day and eventually come up past my window.  For a while, however, I will be blind as I check my e-mail in the morning.  Even with the movement of the sun, spring doesn't look as if it's planning arrival anytime soon.

We are bracing ourselves for massive flooding this spring.  We live close to the Illinois River which floods a bit every spring but with all the snow and ice this year, I'm sure it will be worse.  As long as the river doesn't reach the highway, we can get home but luckily, we have a back way which takes us up the bluff farther away from the river.  If the water reaches where we live, someone better have built an Ark. 

I hope it's warmer where you are.